Kate Middleton Hello! magazine pictures draw no complaints

The Duchess of Cambridge has ruled out taking legal action against Hello! after the magazine published photos of her with baby Prince George on holiday.

The pictures are the first images of six-month-old George the public has seen since the future King of England’s christening in October.

Despite the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge taking legal action in the past over “off-duty” images, royal sources have indicated that Hello! was told it was free to publish because the photos were taken “in a public place, without any harassment or pursuit.”

Hello! magazine published the photographs in its Feb. 3 issue. In them, the Duchess is seen dressed casually in a striped top and jeans, holding baby George – himself wearing a striped blue-and-white cap and white pajamas. The images, taken during a Middleton family vacation to Mustique, made the magazine’s cover, and grace a full eight pages of the issue.

Some royal commentators have suggested Prince William and Kate Middleton’s lack of a fuss over the images suggests the pair are taking a pragmatic approach to the paparazzi, with Majesty magazine editor telling the U.K. Daily Mirror that the couple’s leniency is likely “a one-off.”

“They probably feel it’s pointless making a fuss,” Ingrid Seward told theMirror. “I think they are using a bit of intelligence, you can’t go potty for everything because it would have no effect at all.”

The Duke and Duchess have, in the past, shown a zero-tolerance policy towards the paparazzi: In 2012, Kate and William launched a suit against French tabloidCloser after it published topless photos of the Duchess, taken while the couple were on vacation in France. The Duke and Duchess won the case, and the magazine was prohibited from further publishing the photos.

Travel Videos

There’s a big world out there, but it’s hard to see it when you’re sitting behind a desk, which is why writer Maryam Siddiqi took more than two weeks holiday. Actually, she took almost seven months to travel to 20 countries on four continents, documenting the journey the whole way. Visit our interactive map to see where Maryam went.